I have been emailing a lot of close friends about what they do to save money and have gotten some great responses. We also have an online account with Consumer Reports, and we consult Clark Howard a lot!
After a LOT of thought and prayer we decided that we are going to make the switch from our snobbish Pampers habit to cloth diapers. I did so much research and felt so overwhelmed, but with the help from some close friends (thanks Monkey's Mama) I finally settled on a brand that I think we will love. These diapers are made by Gro Baby. The reason I chose to go with these is mainly because of customer reviews, friend recommendations, quality and price.
Plus, they are so cute! I ordered a set of diapers, inserts, 2 wet bags and some detergent and they should be arriving at our house this week! I'm very excited about our choice...but once I posted about my excitement on Facebook, people immediately began to assume that I'm just a big ole hippy! HA! If only they knew how Hayden and I feel about recycling! We really truly did decide to make the switch in order to save our budget.
I'll let you know how it goes once I get into it.
Some other suggestions from friends we are going to try are:
1.) Eat smaller portions. I LOVE to cook and we LOVE to eat...but I am going to start cutting recipes in half and making less desserts. It'll be hard, but so worth it!2.) Try shopping at Trader Joe's. Not only do most of our friends recommend this, but so does Clark Howard and Consumer Reports! Luckily we work close to a TJ's, so it will make shopping convenient.
3.) Cut down on the amount of paper products we buy. Hayden and I have always been known to have a box of Kleenex laying around the house. No matter where you are in our home, if you have the sniffles you will find yourself within an arm's reach of relief...but now you will have to run to the powder room for a square of TP if you sneeze!
4.) Eat out less. We always like to enjoy friends after church on Sunday, but we are known to splurge and let ourselves eat out several times in a weekend. That gravy train has come to an end. Also, when we eat out, we are going to keep it under $10 for both of us! It so worked yesterday too! We knew that we wanted to hang out with our friends, and since Aaron was in town, we knew we wanted to catch up with our old bud...so at Atlanta Bread Company we found ourselves completely satisfied and only spent $7.72!
As time goes by I will be more than happy to fill you in on my budget-friendly finds. I know everyone needs some relief these days!!!
2 comments:
I wish they would have had those cute little diapers when Mason was a baby! I would have been on board with those also...for different reasons, of course. *wink*
Brian and I have put ourselves on the same kind of budget you and Hayden are on. Getting by on less isn't as difficult as I would have thought...but PB&J a few times a week really does get old.
oooooh oooh. Cannot wait to see if you like them!
I told Joel this morning (after our BumGenius leaked AGAIN) that I wish I had all GroBaby!
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